Since the 2000-2001 season, the Alpine Ski World Cup Opening Races have been held at Soelden in Tirol.
In 2023, 59 skiers from all over the world were in Sölden for one of the sport’s most exciting events for ski fans.
After months of waiting, the Women's Giant Slalom kicks off the new World Cup, and the favorites to win the 2024 Giant Slalom on the Rettenbach glacier will be defending champion Lara Gut-Behrami, Federica Brignone, and Mikaela Shiffrin. Only two names come to mind to challenge the favorite trio: Sara Hector and above all Alice Robinson.
Lara Gut-Behrami and Federica Brignone have both finished on the podium four times in Sölden.
The Swiss was second in 2021 and won last season (the race was canceled in 2022). She also won in 2013 and 2016.
The Italian won in 2015 and was second in 2018, 2020 and 2023. Brignone finished last season in spectacular fashion by winning the final two Giant Slalom events of 2024 in Are and Saalbach.
Mikaela Shiffrin has finished on the podium six times in Sölden, including two wins in 2014 and 2021.
For Hector, a seasoned Giant Slalom specialist, Sölden has never been her place but she achieved her best result last season when she finished fourth.
Robinson knows what it's like to win in Sölden and finished on the podium in four of the last five Giant Slalom races last season.
Talented Marta Bassino won the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe in 2021 after winning the Opening World Cup race in Sölden in 2020. She finished third in 2016 and fifth in 2023 in the Rettenbach glacier. However, her performance in the Giant Slalom during the most recent season leaves her off the podium, raising questions about her chances in Sölden.
In 2023 Lara Gut-Behrami won the Alpine Ski World Cup Women’s race opener in Sölden, Tirol, Austria.
It was the third time she won in the Rettenbach Glacier. Gut-Behrami was on the podium 4 times in Sölden (3-1-0) (2023, 2013 and 2016 - 2021). She finished in the Top 10 a total of seven times in the first race of the season. It's the 15th time the 33-year-old Swiss skier will be racing in the Rettenbach glacier. Last season Gut-Behrami equalled Tina Maze's record three World Cup Giant Slalom wins in Sölden.
In the 2023-2024 winter season, Lara Gut-Behrami won the Giant Slalom and Overall Crystal Globes. It was her first Giant Slalom title. She became the first woman representing Switzerland to win the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe since Sonja Nef in 2001-2002.
The 33-year-old Swiss competed in eleven Giant Slalom World Cup events last season, and finished on the podium in seven, including four wins (Sölden, Killington, Kronplatz, and Soldeu).
Federica Brignone won the last Giant Slalom of the season at the World Cup Finals in Saalbach. It was her fourth win in Giant Slalom in the 2023-2024 winter season. Brignone became the first female skier representing Italy to achieve 27 World Cup victories. The only Italian to have won more than 27 World Cup events is ski legend Alberto Tomba (50). The 33-year-old Italian skier finished with a lead of 1.36 seconds over Alice Robinson. Thea Louise Stjernesund rounded out the podium 1.67 seconds behind Brignone.
Six wins and 13 podiums across three disciplines speaks about the consistency of the Italian racer last season.
In 2023, Brignone finished in second place in Soelden. She achieved 12 of her 27 World Cup victories in Giant Slalom. Also, 36 of her 69 podiums came in the same discipline.
Back in 2020, Federica Brignone Grabs the Overall, Giant Slalom, and Alpine Combined Globes. Brignone can be proud to be the first Italian woman to conquer the Overall Globe. Brignone joined the Italian-Overall club composed of Piero Gros, Gustav Thoeni, and Alberto Tomba on the Men's field.
Federica Brignone finished second in the Giant Slalom in Beijing 2022, earning her second Olympic medal after winning Bronze in the same discipline at Pyeongchang 2018.
Federica Brignone claimed the silver medal in Giant Salom at the 2011 Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the 2023 Championships in Courchevel-Meribel.
Brignone's first career World Cup win came in the Sölden Giant Slalom on October 24, 2015. She raced in the Rettenbach glacier 13 times and finished four on the podium (1st 2015, 2nd 2018, 2020, and 2023). The Italian finished in second place in 2018 and 2020.
In 2021 (the Women's race was canceled in 2022 due to weather conditions) Mikaela Shiffrin won the Alpine Ski World Cup Women’s race opener in Sölden, Tirol, Austria. The 29-year-old American beat Lara Gut-Behrami in an exciting duel, setting the fastest time in the second run to prevail with a margin of 0.14 seconds. In perfect conditions, the American and Swiss skiers were in their own league. After the first run, Gut-Behrami led by merely 2 hundredths and held up well in the second run. In the last section, the two were practically tied before the Swiss lost some time in the flat final section. Petra Vlhova rounded out the podium in third place +1.30 behind.
2021 was the second time Shiffrin won in the Rettenbach Glacier. In 2014 she shared the first position on the podium with Anna Fenninger. It was her first career World Cup win in the Giant Slalom.
Last season was the first time Mikaela Shiffrin failed to finish in the top three of the Giant Slalom rankings. She was in the Top-3 in each of the previous seven World Cup seasons, including victories in 2018-2019, and 2022-2023.
Shiffrin was on the podium 6 times in Sölden (2-3-1) (2014 and 2021 - 2015, 2016 and 2019 - 2018). She finished in 5th position in 2017 and 6th in 2013 and 2023. In her first appearance in the Rettenbach Glacier racecourse in 2012 she did not qualify for the second run.
22 of her impressive 97 World Cup victories come in Giant Slalom. With seven Giant Slalom victories in the 2022-2023 winter season, Mikaela Shiffrin surpassed Vreni Schneider's record of 20 wins. On March 10, 2023, Shiffrin equaled Schneider's record in Åre, only to break it nine days later in Soldeu.
Mikaela Shiffrin is just three wins away from her 100th Alpine Ski World Cup triumph.
Sara Hector claimed 17 World Cup podiums in the Giant Slalom, including five wins in Courchevel, Kranjska Gora, and Kronplatz in the 2021-2022 winter season, and Jasna in 2024. In 2022, an inner ligament injury deprived her of becoming the second Swedish winner of the Women's Giant Slalom Crystal Globe, after Anja Pärson (2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2005-2006). Hector won the Olympic Giant Slalom gold in Beijing.
Hector's best result in her eleven participations in Sölden was 4th place in 2023.
On 26 October 2019, Alice Robinson won the women's World Cup Giant Slalom event in Sölden at age 17. She became the youngest winner of a World Cup event since Mikaela Shiffrin, who was also 17 years old when she won her first World Cup event (in 2012-2013).
She has won three World Cup Giant Slaloms and finished on the podium 10 times. In March, New Zealand’s Alice Robinson achieved in Saalbach in the Alpine Ski World Cup Finals, her fifth podium finish of the 2023-2024 winter season.
Update 21.10.2024: Petra Vlhova will not be competing at the Alpine Ski World Cup in Sölden. The Slovakian tore her cruciate ligament in Jasna in January and has been working on her comeback ever since. According to Vlhova, she is no longer in pain at a press conference in Bratislava. However, the 29-year-old does not want to compete again until she is "100 percent fit."
His return could take place in early December, in Tremblant, or in Semmering between Christmas and New Year.
Last minute: Lara Gut-Behrami will not start in the Alpine Ski World Cup season opener on the Rettenbach glacier in Soelden. The 33-year-old from Ticino made her announcement after the inspection on Saturday morning. "I just don't feel 100 percent fit," she said in an interview with SRF.
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